María A. Ramos-Olazagasti is a distinguished community and developmental psychologist with over a decade of experience conducting applied, policy-relevant research on the well-being of Latino children and families. Her work aims to understand the influence of social context and adversity on emotional and behavioral outcomes, emphasizing the diversity of experiences within Latino subgroups. She has extensive experience managing large scale projects and intensive data collection efforts. A dedicated mentor, she has championed various initiatives to cultivate the next generation of scholars.

As Deputy Director of the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families and lead for its building capacity efforts, Dr. Ramos-Olazagasti spearheads efforts to support emerging scholars and strengthen the field’s ability to conduct rigorous research that informs policy and practice for Hispanic families. She also leads the Latino Families Flourishing project, which seeks to foster a deeper, strengths-based understanding of Latino families in the United States and the systems they navigate, highlighting their diversity while informing and transforming these systems to create greater opportunities for Latino families to thrive. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families.

Beyond her research contributions, Dr. Ramos-Olazagasti serves as a Commissioner for the Maryland Government’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs, where she provides evidence-based insights to inform policies aimed at improving the lives of Latino communities in the state. Her ability to communicate research findings to policy, programmatic, and academic audiences ensures that her work has a tangible impact on the lives of Latino families. She holds a PhD in Community and Developmental Psychology with a minor in quantitative methods from New York University. She completed postdoctoral training in developmental psychopathology at the NYU Langone Child Study Center and previously worked as a Research Scientist and Assistant Professor at the New York State Psychiatric Institute-Columbia University Irving Medical Center.